Baseboard radiator



Dec. 18, 1956 e. M. PATTERSON 2,774,574

BASEBOARD RADIATOR Filed 001'.- '25, 1952 United States, P e

BASEBOARD RADIATOR Graydon M. Patterson, Austin, Minn. ApplicationOctober 23, 1952, Serial No. 316,343 1 Claim. (Cl. 257133) Thisinvention relates to room heating radiators. More particularly, itrelates to heating structures known in the homes as baseboard radiators.

It is a general object of my invention to provide a novel and improvedbaseboard radiator of cheap and simple construction and operation andhaving improved efficiency. k

A more specific object is to provide a novel and improved baseboardradiator which will heat the air within a given room more quickly andhas a higher capacity than heretofore known. I

Another object is to provide a novel baseboard radiator constructed toprovide heating for a given room at a lower cost than heretofore known.

Another object is to provide a baseboard radiator more compact in sizeand having positive circulation of the air to provide higher capacityand efficiency.

Another object is to provide a baseboard radiator of novel and improvedconstruction which will permitfaster installation of the same than typespreviously known.

Another object is to provide a baseboard radiator hav ing novel andimproved construction which will require less heating units for a givenroom.

These and other objects and advantages of my invention will more fullyappear from the following description made in connection with theaccompanying drawings, wherein like reference characters refer to thesame or similar parts throughout the several views, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of one embodiment of my inventionmounted within a baseboard radiator housing with a portion of thehousing broken away to show the interior thereof and the heatingassembly; and

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken approximately along line 22 of Fig. 1.

One embodiment of my invention, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, may includean elongated radiator housing indicated generally as 5, this housingbeing of low height and having a plurality of restricted dischargeopenings in the form of longitudinally extending slots 6. These slots 6are narrow and permit a relatively small amount of air to passtherethrough relative to the total volume of the housing except whendriven positively. These openings are sutficiently few in number andsufliciently small in size so that it would be impossible to heat theroom solely by a gravity feed.

Mounted within the housing and extending longitudinally thereof is anelongated tubular heating element indicated generally as 7. As bestshown in Fig. 2, the heating element shown is a piece of pipe adapted tocarry hot water or steam therethrough, the steam or hot water being fedinto the heating element 7 by a pipe 8 and car ried away therefrom by apipe 9. Adjacent the discharge end of the heating element 7 is an airrelief valve 10 and a plug 11 which plugs an opening provided forextension elements which would permit one or more additional heatingelements to be secured thereto as desired. The supply of hot water orsteam will generally be provided from a 2,774,574 Pe are, Peale .1956.

2 I source in the basement in the manner well-known in the art. Y

Mounted on the outer surface of the heating element 7 is a plurality ofradially outwardly extending fins'12. These fins are preferably of metalof a type which will readily conduct heat so that the heat generated bythe heating element may-be rapidly dissipated into the'air between thefins. As can best be seen in Fig. 1, these fins 12 extend longitudinallyof the heating element and throughout substantially the entire lengththereof. thermostatically controlled electric switch 13 is provided atone end of the heating element 7 to prevent the blower 14 from workingwhen the temperature of the heating element 7 is below a predeterminedlevel. The electrically operated blower 14 is mounted within a blowercasing 15 which has a discharge opening 16 the center of (i which isbelow the heating element 7. The lower portion of the discharge openingis below the lowest level to which the fins extend and the upper portionthereof extendsto a levelslightly above the heating element 7. As shownin Fig. 1, this blower 14 may be controlled by a thermostat 17 of theconventional and well-known type.

The supply of heat to the room may be controlled with the structureshown in one of two ways. It may be controlled as shown by thethermostat 17 causing the blower 14 to operate whenever the temperatureof the room drops below a predetermined level. In combination with suchan arrangement, the supply of heating fluid fed through the pipe 8 tothe heating element.7 would be constantly maintained at a hightemperature level so that there would always be,a source of heatavailable in the heating ele-.

ment 7. V1 This however would not be sufficient to heat the room sincethe restricted operiings 6 would restrict the gravity feed to such anextent that the room would not be properly heated. However, when thetemperature of the room dropped below the predetermined level, thethermostat 17 would close the circuit to the blower 14 and cause theblower to positively drive air longitudinally of the heating element 7and between the fins 12. Because the air would be driven longitudinallyof the housing 5 and in contact with the fins 12 a much greater periodof time than would ordinarily be the case, and because the fins, byextending radially and outwardly and longitudinally of the heatingelement 7 will heat the air more etficiently, the temperature of the airwill be raised considerably more than would otherwise be the case. Thedriving force of the blower, however, will cause the air to leavethrough the restricted openings 6 at a relatively high rate of speed andthus the room will be warmed within a very short period of time sincethere will be a constant supply of hot air within the housing at thetime the blower commences to run.

This unit may be used without the thermostat 17 by providing athermostat (not shown) in connection with the source of supply of hotfluid fed into the heating element 7 through the pipe 8. This is aconventional way of supplying hot water to radiators carrying the samefor the purposes of heating rooms. In such a case the thermostat wouldcause the hot water or steam to run into the heating element 7 only whenthe temperature of the room dropped below a predetermined level. Theblower 14 in such an arrangement would be continuously operated exceptwhen the temperature dropped below a predetermined level at which thethermostatic electric switch 13 was set. When this occurred the switch13 would break the circuit to the blower and it would not close againuntil the temperature of the heating element was raised to a level abovethe pointat which the switch 13 is set. At all other times the blower 14would operate continuously so that there would be provided substantiallycontinuous circulation thereby.

It should be noted that the blower 14 has its discharge openingpositioned so that the bulk of the air driven into the housing 5 isdirected longitudinally of the'housing at a level below the heating unit7 and so that the bulk of the air passes between the fins ll whichextend downwardly from the heating element. Thus the bulk of the air isheated while passing along the fins 12 longitudinally of the heatingunit and receives additional heat while passing'upwardly across the finswhich extend horizontally from the heating element and upwardlytherefrom. In this manner more efiicient heating is attained so that thetemperature of the air will be considerably higher as it is forced fromthe housing 5.

Thus it can be readily seen that I have provided a novel and improvedbaseboard radiator of cheap and simple construction and operation andhaving improved efficiency. It can be readilyseen that through the useof the blower and the improved means of heating the air, the unit willmore quickly heat a room and has a higher capacity than similar heatingunits. heretofore known. It can be shown that such a unit as disclosedand claimed herein will provide heat for a room at a lower cost thanunits of another type.

It should also be noted that my particular heating unit is more compactin size and has positive circulation of the air to provide a highercapacity. Because of its improved efiiciency in performance it requiresless time to install such a unit in view of the tact that less units arerequired.

It will of course be understood that various changes may be made in theform, details, arrangement and proportions of the various parts withoutdeparting from the scope of my invention.

What is claimed is:

In a baseboard radiator the combination of an elongated housing of lowheight adapted to be secured adjacent the baseboard in a room, saidhousing having apertured upper portions through which air is discharged,

an elongated heating element mounted within the interior of said housingbetween the upper and lower portions thereof and extendinglongitudinally through the housing, a plurality of elongatedheat-transferring fins extending longitudinally along said heatingelement and substantially radially outwardly from said heating elementinto spaced relation with said housing, said fins being secured to saidheating element along the length thereof in heat-transmitting relation,and a blower mounted within said housing and having an air dischargeopening disposed in close proximity with one end of said heating elementand said fins and directing air longitudinally between said fins, thecenter of the air discharge opening being disposed below said heatingelement and directing a proportionately greater quantity of air betweenthe downwardly extending fins as compared to the air driven between theupwardly extending fins, whereby portions of the air drivenlongitudinally between the downwardly extending fins will circulatebetween the fins and the housing into proximity with the upwardlyextending fins to receive all of the heat available from the upwardlyextending fins and then be discharged through the apertured upperportions of the housing into the room.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,909,870 Rosino May 16, 1933 2,150,233 Martin Mar. 14, 1939 2,437,573Walter Mar. 9, 1948 2,516,871 Haugen Aug. 1, 1950 2,541,162 Hermann Feb.13, 1951 2,585,703 Thorson Feb. 12, 1952 2,637,500 Kessler May 5, 1953FOREIGN PATENTS 571,735 Great Britain Sept. 6, 1945

